In recent years, mobile wireless communications have become increasingly popular. Initial implementations of mobile wireless communications, for example in the form of cellular telephone networks, supported circuit switched voice communication services. Today wireless carriers also offer packet data communication services to their mobile customers. A significant advantage of wireless communications is mobility, that is to say, the ability to communicate at virtually any location throughout a wide geographic area and/or while moving or roaming about that area. At the same time, the mobile communication devices, typically handsets or personal digital assistants (PDAs) or the like have become quite small, light and portable. As a result, subscribers to mobile wireless communication services routinely carry their mobile devices with them wherever they go and as they travel, including when they travel on commercial transport vehicles like buses, trains and airplanes.
Traditionally, the use of mobile communication devices on commercial transport vehicles has been limited or prohibited entirely. For example, on airplanes, in-flight use of such devices is prohibited, as the high power levels required to communicate with ground-based cell sites might interfere with aircraft navigational communications or other operations of the airplane.
Small-scale cellular wireless systems have been developed for indoor use, e.g. to provide wireless private branch exchange type services. US application publication no. 2003/0013489 to Mar et al., for example, discloses an IP-based technique for providing wireless communication services for an enterprise. Mobile devices communicate with pico cells when within the enterprise premises and with macro base stations of a public cellular network when outside the enterprise. In general, a small scale or indoor cellular communication system may be referred to as a “pico cell” system, with the outdoor cellular communication system being referred to as a “macro cell” system. Within such a small scale system, each pico cell consists of a low power base station. For example, the pico cell may include a scaled down cellular transceiver for GSM communication or a scaled down cellular transceiver for CDMA communication. Other versions of the pico cell systems may be implemented by other types of wireless technology, e.g. wireless access points serving as WiFi (IEEE 802.11) hot spots.
Recently, a number of parties involved in the wireless communication industry and/or the airline industry have proposed the use of such pico cells to provide connectivity for a customer's handset when the user is within an airplane. U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,286 to Zicker, for example, proposes a miniature cellular network for use in an airplane, including internal base stations and an air-to-ground communication link. The advantage of a pico cell type system in the vehicle is that customers can use their own mobile station equipment on the plane or other vehicle. The mobile handsets or the like would be operated at very low power, reducing interference they might otherwise cause at ground base-stations and/or with aviation systems of the airplane.
However, in-flight use of mobile communications services raises security concerns. For example, it has been suggested that a terrorist might place a cell phone in luggage that is checked-in and stowed in the cargo bay, and then the cell phone might be used to trigger a bomb in response to a call to the cell phone. The radio isolation between the cargo bay and passenger areas is minimal, perhaps only 3 db since the floor of planes is fiberglass. It is not practical to shield the floor. Hence, The DOJ/DHS/FBI have asked the FCC and the industry to provide certain security features with regard to on board mobile station service. Some of these security features would be to control mobile handset access when the handset has been left powered on and packed in luggage and stored in the cargo bay. Another desired security features would be to provide the seat location of a mobile station caller using a mobile device while on-board the aircraft.
A need therefore exists for one or more security systems or techniques to support pico cell services for mobile stations in a moving vehicle such as an aircraft, e.g. to prevent operation of a mobile station from the cargo bay via the pico cell system and/or to provide assigned seat information regarding a passenger making or receiving a call via the pico cell system.